A blog from an Australian passionate about spending money on beauty products, and then talking about them.

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So you want to wash your brush collection?

Now that you’ve rushed out and purchased all my previously recommended brushes, the next step after enjoying them, is washing them. I used to dread washing my brushes, but I’ve gotten myself into a pretty good rhythm now. I actually don’t own a spot cleaner, but I can usually survive until the end of the week when I can do a deep clean of my brushes. For those following along at home, you will need the following:

Required Items
Water source (I just use my bathroom sink)
Johnsons Baby Shampoo (I’ve had a medium sized bottle for over 2 years now)
A towel (I use a hand towel)

As you can, a fairly simple list. I try to get my brushes washed after I’ve applied my makeup for work, but before I head out for the day – so my time frame is quite short! Especially as the weather cools, I like to give my brushes most of the day to dry – so if I’m heading somewhere that evening and need to apply makeup, I’ll either postpone the washing, or leave the brushes I need out from the wash.

Now, before I start washing, I make sure I’ve laid the towel flat (I have a bath tub step in my bathroom, so I put a lot of stuff on there, including my brush towel), and I roll up one side of it, so that I can create an angle.

You may commence washing. I wet my hands, wet the brush, squirt in a tiny bit of baby shampoo, and start working up a lather using the brush. This gets out a lot of the product; I use a back and forth motion, as well as create circles (it depends on the type of brush and length of hairs). I try to push the shampoo and lather to the dips between my fingers to create a slight groove – so to push the brush hairs around a lot more, and dislodge any tougher or deeper product. I don’t wash the shampoo right away – I rest the brush above the sink, and then wash them all out at the end. In my mind, I like to think the shampoo is using that extra time to eat away any remaining product. Once I’ve done a decent batch of the brushes, I’ll wash out the soap, and lay the brushes on the towel.

Left : Before working up a lather
Below: Working up a lather

For the sake of the life of my brushes, I try to avoid tipping the brush in a way that the water can travel down the brush hairs – I don’t want any glue damaged. I also give them a quick back and forth wipe on the edge of the towel before laying them to dry for the rest of the day.

So, that’s it! Really simple, if I’m really short on time, I just do a few brushes (you’ll notice in the photo above that my brushes aren’t perfectly white – I’ve rushed it, they usually go perfectly clean). We all know it’s good to wash them weekly to stop bacteria growth, but unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. It’s especially hard to tell yourself to do it when you’re not a makeup artist, and know that the brushes are only touching your skin. But it really does make a difference to how your brushes feel on your skin, and then there’s always the benefit of decreasing your chances of breaking out from dirty brushes. 🙂